Michael Bachman, una de las favoritas del tea party gano las primarias de Iowa, la primera de las elecciones que tienen los republicanos para nominar a su candidato a presidente para el 2012.
En segundo lugar estuvo Ron Paul, el mas conservador o libertarian de los candidatos.
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Bachmann Wins Iowa Straw Poll
By JONATHAN WEISMAN And NEIL KING JR.
AMES, Iowa—Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota stormed to victory in the Iowa straw poll Saturday, flexing her organizational muscle and establishing herself as the front-runner in the state that holds the first nominating contest of the Republican presidential race next year.
Libertarian firebrand Rep. Ron Paul of Texas showed he can marshal his supporters as well, finishing a strong second ahead of the candidate who probably needed a win here the most, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
A seller set up a t-shirt tent in Ames. The poll results are nonbinding, amount to a popularity contest.
.. Michele Bachmann is drawing crowds and passionate supporters at the Ames Straw Poll. The question that remains is whether she has the organizational support to back that up. WSJ's Neil King reports from Iowa.
.None of the 16,892 votes filed at Iowa State University in Ames will count toward the Republican nomination. Still, the straw poll is likely to separate the top contenders for the nomination from candidates unable to muster the organization or the passion to make a final charge.
Mrs. Bachmann garnered 4,823 votes, trailed closely by Mr. Paul with 4,671.
Mr. Pawlenty received 2,293 votes after pouring significant money and time into organizing for the contest.
Considered the traditional start of the Republican presidential campaign, the Ames Straw Poll may have been less relevant this year than in past campaigns because two of the most formidable White House hopefuls weren't major factors: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, whose name was on the ballot but who didn't actively participate, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who entered the nomination race Saturday and wasn't on the ballot.
Even absent, both attracted some votes. Mr. Romney got 567; Mr. Perry beat that with 718 write-in votes after making no effort here.
Still, the results do have meaning, as a poor showing could deprive candidates of money and momentum.
"This is where the process starts, right here," said Iowa Rep. Tom Latham, a Republican.
Placing fourth was former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who drew 1,657 votes. Former corporate executive Herman Cain placed fifth, with 1,456 votes. Mr. Perry placed sixth, and Mr. Romney seventh.
Behind them were Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, with 385 votes; Jon Huntsman, a former Utah governor, with 69 votes; and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan with 35 votes.
For Mrs. Bachmann, the vote affirmed that she is waging a substantial campaign, at least in the state where she was born. She packed her air-conditioned tent with supporters, lured by country music star Randy Travis but also by her passionate appeal to the social conservatives who have traditionally dominated this state's caucuses.
Tim Pawlenty's campaigners are feeling good at the Ames Straw Poll and say their ground game is good. But they are tempering that by saying that they don't necessarily expect to win and are hoping for third place or better. WSJ's Neil King reports from Iowa.
."Here in Iowa, we get to forge that next link in the chain of liberty," she told supporters, "to restore greatness again to the United States."
Mr. Perry will immediately challenge her on her home turf, traveling Sunday evening to Waterloo, Iowa, her birthplace, where both candidates will speak at a Republican fund-raiser.
Beyond proving herself against the Texas governor, Mrs. Bachmann still has to confirm her appeal beyond Iowa. She will take her victory on the road this week in conservative South Carolina, an early-voting state where her religious appeals—she has been reaching out to the evangelical Christian community—could resonate. She called the win Saturday "the down payment on taking the country back."
The two candidates who may have been hurt the most Saturday were likely Messrs. Pawlenty and Santorum, who needed strong showings to keep campaign contributions and enthusiasm flowing ahead of the Iowa caucuses in six months.
Mr. Pawlenty invested at least $1 million in advertising and organizing in Iowa in the past two months, and he had by far the most extensive web of seasoned aides and advisers in the state. He has campaigned heavily in the state since early July, acknowledging that a strong showing in the Ames poll would be crucial to reviving his flagging campaign and his campaign treasury.
"We made progress in moving from the back of the pack into a competitive position for the caucuses, but we have a lot more work to do," Mr. Pawlenty said in a statement.
Pawlenty campaign aides said the former governor would fight on, but his showing quickly brought to mind other Republican candidates who dropped out of the race shortly after third-place finishes in Ames. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, who was a senator at the time, quit after his third-place finish in 2007, and former North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole abandoned her campaign after the straw poll in 1999.
Mr. Santorum had hoped that a strong performance at the Republican candidates' debate here Thursday night would propel a campaign that has struggled from the start. "We just have to have a good showing here," he had said, asserting that fourth or fifth place would work, as long as he was close. His fourth-place finish met that standard.
Democratic officials said the results showed the GOP remains in the thrall of its most conservative wing.
"The only winner tonight was the tea party," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.
The straw poll doesn't always predict who will win Iowa's nominating caucuses, which are scheduled for February and which apportion delegates needed to win the nomination. In 2007, Mr. Romney took first place in the straw poll with 4,516 votes, but he ultimately placed a distant second in the caucuses several months later to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Mr. Romney currently leads in most national polls of GOP primary voters but hasn't made Iowa a major focus of his campaign.
The straw-poll scene was as much a carnival as it was a political contest. National polls may indicate that the tea-party tide is ebbing, especially in the wake of the showdown in Washington over raising the nation's statutory borrowing limit. But the tri-cornered hats and Don't Tread on Me flags of the tea-party activists who powered Republican victories last November were out in force. Mr. Santorum showed up with a bagpiper leading the way.
Mr. Paul built Paul's Prosperity Playground, complete with "The Sliding Dollar" kids' slide and an "End the Fed" dunk tank.
Mrs. Bachmann's camp was particularly aggressive in seeking votes. A Bachmann aide, speaking over a loudspeaker, warned the throng outside her enclosed tent that no one would be allowed in to see the Randy Travis concert unless they had already voted.
And with just minutes to go before the polls closed, Ms. Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, led a golf-cart motorcade to the entrance of the university coliseum, where they cried out for the crowd to cast last-minute votes. Marcus Bachmann dispensed entry tickets to those in need.
Christian and country bands began rocking early in candidates' tents. The late Buddy Holly's band, the Crickets, serenaded Mr. Santorum's troops. Mr. Pawlenty wooed activists with free Dairy Queen Blizzards and Famous Dave's barbecue sandwiches. In Ames, a little enticement is not considered out of bounds.
The animating energy may have been anger. A series of candidate videos painted the U.S. under President Barack Obama as a nation coming apart at the seams, economically and morally.
"Barack Obama has absolutely no clue. He is like a manure spreader in a wind storm," Mr. Pawlenty said.
The absent Republicans exerted as much influence on the events as those present. Mr. Perry launched into his announcement speech in Charleston, S.C., just as Iowa Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn was formally kicking off the straw-poll speeches in Ames.
Mr. Paul addressed his own governor, saying old-guard Republicans may be "looking for a super-establishment candidate who can challenge us," but he said Mr. Perry "won't dilute our vote."
On the outskirts of the Iowa State campus, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic Party chairwoman, found herself fielding as many questions about Mr. Perry as about the Republicans participating in the straw poll.
"Another Texas governor?" she shrugged, a reference to former President George W. Bush. "Is that what the American people are going to embrace? How'd that work for us last time—not so well."
Mr. Romney was also a factor. The DNC, ignoring the actual contestants, launched an advertisement in Des Moines mocking the front-runner for saying at the Iowa State Fair this week that "corporations are people, my friend."
At the Iowa State Fair Friday, a crowd that packed in around the "soapbox" of the Des Moines Register newspaper grumbled loudly when Mrs. Bachmann showed up nearly an hour late and delivered a 2½-minute pep talk before hustling to her next event. As she left, gay-rights activists shouted at her and her husband, whose Christian counseling center has been the focus of reports that it worked with homosexuals to change their sexual orientation.
"I'm a second-class citizen because of you, Michele," one heckler shouted. "You can't pray the gay away."
Democrats are taking the same heat. Ms. Wasserman Schultz faced down her own hecklers at the state fair Friday, and not all of them were Republicans. Some grumbled that Mr. Obama hadn't been tough enough with the GOP. "Grow a spine, will you?" demanded one Iowan.
"It's going to be a tough race," Ms. Wasserman Schultz said Saturday, pledging that "we're going to run the most aggressive, spirited race in American history."
A final wildcard is former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who proved Friday she could still draw a crowd when she was mobbed by well-wishers at the Iowa fair. She told reporters she still hasn't decided whether she would enter the presidential sweepstakes.
"There's still a lot of contemplation that is needed before such an earth-shattering decision," she said.
Ms. Palin also showed she can still throw an elbow, comparing Texas, which structurally has a weak governorship, to Alaska, which she said has a strong one—an unsubtle dig at Mr. Perry.
Write to Jonathan Weisman at
jonathan.weisman@wsj.com and Neil King Jr. at
neil.king@wsj.com